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I found out yesterday, that my sweet girl, Suzie, has lymphoma, and I’m devastated. However, her vet said it’s a weird case, because usually, when dogs have lymphoma, if untreated, they only have 1 to 3 months left to live. Suzie has had swollen lymph nodes, since December. Let me explain.
Last December, right around Christmas, I noticed that her lymph nodes were swollen on the left side of her neck. Because of the holidays, I couldn’t get her in until after New Years. She turned 7 in July, but they did a complete senior blood work panel, and during her exam, they said that she had stage 3 dental disease.
Her blood work came back perfect, and we scheduled her cleaning for February. Once they were in there, it was only stage 2, and she didn’t need any extractions. Since she was already under anesthesia, I had a lump removed from the back of her neck, that was benign.
They said the reason her lymph nodes were swollen, was because the dental disease was causing an infection. They also said that the swelling would go down, once the infection was clear, in a couple of months, but other than pain, and inflammation medicine, they didn’t give her any antibiotics, or steroids.
During the time of her surgery, I was facing homelessness, and had to find another place to live. I was living with friends in Palm Coast at the time, and now, I’m back in Tampa. On Saturday, I took her to the vet we used, when we lived here before. They did another complete senior blood work panel, and those results came back great. However, we were still waiting on the results of her two biopsies, which came in yesterday, and I was told that she has lymphoma.
She has an appointment with an oncologist, on Monday morning, to do more tests, and see if there’s anything we can do to treat it, or if it’s basically a death sentence. Have any of you ever dealt with anything like this? Did your dog end up being ok, or did they deteriorate quickly? I was confused, because I thought that if she had cancer, her blood work would be bad, but apparently, certain cancers don’t even show up in elevated white blood cells, or whatever.
I’m obviously hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst. If she dies, I’m going to be gutted, but I also worry about my almost 4 year old Catahoula, Bennie. They are extremely bonded. If she does need to be euthanized in the near future, I will do it at home, like I did with my soul dog, Charlie, almost 4 years ago. This way, she can be comfortable, in familiar surroundings , and not stressed at the vet, and he can properly say goodbye.
I am just so sick, over this whole thing.
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